A Stoke on Trent College lecturer is coaching three young craftspeople as they prepare to compete in front of over 150,000 spectators at the world’s largest vocational skills contest.

Pete Walters is helping the decorators reach the peak of their abilities, as they make a bid to represent the UK in the WorldSkills contest, often referred to as the ‘Skills Olympics.’

Later this month one of the three candidates will be selected for the UK team, and Pete is responsible for providing the young hopefuls with intensive blocks of training in readiness for the final selection.

His role is a voluntary one, which Pete combines with his position as a lecturer at Stoke on Trent College’s Cauldon Campus.

Some of the training is being delivered at the College’s state of the art John Seddon Building Technology Centre, where the facilities lend themselves to high level training.

Pete said: “Whoever goes through to Team UK will be a member of biggest team the UK has ever put forward for WorldSkills, and will be taking part in an event in October that will remember for the rest of their lives.

 “It’s really rewarding to help coach the candidates and we hope the contest will encourage other people to consider a career in the industry.”

Pete appears in a video produced by Crown Paints - sponsors of the Painting and Decorating competition at WorldSkills 2011 – created to raise awareness of the contest.

Available to view at www.youtube.com/crownpaint, other films produced in the series include interviews with the three candidates, Rachel Terras, 21 from Scotland, Thomas Waudby, 21 from Leeds and Sadie Jones, 21 from Derbyshire, as well the competition manager from Crown Paints.

Debbie Orr, Senior Brand Manager at Crown Paints, said: “The coaching that goes into making the candidates ready to tackle this global contest is first-class and Pete’s influence on training and developing the candidates is exceptional."